Try Try Again
by Elizabeth Bartlett
Summary: A date in the Pegasus Galaxy is easier said than done.
1. A what?

"So what's everyone got planned for tonight?" Max asked Lydia and Crysta as she sat down across from them, setting down her coffee cup in the process.

"Work, what else?" Lydia said, poking her dinner with her fork. "It's not like _I _have a date unlike Crysta."

"So Tim finally asked you out?" Max asked Crysta, smiling.

Crysta blushed and grinned, "Yea, he did. But it's nothing special; we're just going to the movie together."

Max snorted and said, "Of course it's special. You're the only one of us to have a date this weekend."

"So I take it that Major Lorne didn't ask you?" Crysta asked.

"Why would he? It's not like he's interested in me or anything." Max said, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Besides, there's a carton of 'Ben and Jerry's' and the second season of 'NCIS' with my name on them." She said in a for-your-information tone.

"Mmmhmm." Crysta said while Lydia just shot Max a glance.

"What? Not every woman needs a man in her life to feel complete."

Crysta and Lydia rolled their eyes at the comment while Lydia said, "Every woman who says that is single."

"So?"

"Well it's true."

"Whatever. Believe what you want, but we're just friends." Max said standing. "I'll see you later."

"Later."

"See ya."

Max exited the cafeteria and walked down the hallway, heading towards her room. She was looking forewords to some down-time, it had been a long day; teaching the Athosian kids was fun but tiring at the same time.

Walking into her room, she grabbed the hair clip that was sitting on the glass end table and, while making her way into the bedroom, swept her hair up so that it was off of her neck. She then walked into the bathroom, intending to soak for awhile in the tub. As she poured in the bubble bath, her earpiece chirped.

Setting the bottle down Max walked out of the room, tapped the headset once and said, "Yes?"

"_Hey it's Evan._"

"Hey."

"_I was wondering if you'd like to see the movie with me tonight._"

Max hesitated for a minute. She had been looking forward to a nice quiet evening, but now that he was asking she was wondering if she should accept.

"_I'll even bring snacks._"

Max couldn't help but laugh at the comment; it was something he would say. Why shouldn't she? It's not like it was a date, it was just two friends seeing a movie together. "Sure I'd love to." Max said.

"_Great. All right if I meet you in the lounge before hand?_"

"Fine with me."

"_Good, it's a date. See you in about an hour._"

To say that Max was surprised at the last statement would be an understatement.

A date?

Max guessed that all the signs were there; they were going to see a movie, there was going to be food, they were going to be seen together. Why shouldn't it be a date?

"_Because he's only a friend and isn't interested in me in that way._" Max thought, trying to convince herself that it in fact _wasn't_ a date. So far she wasn't succeeding.

Turning off the water, Max realized that it was going to be a date; intentional or not. Since the movie was in an hour Max considered not soaking at all, but a quick glance at the clock told her that she had time for a soak and still be ready in time to meet him before the movie started.

Quickly disrobing, she got in the tub and sunk under the bubbles. Sighing, Max leaned her head against the rim of the tub and closed her eyes, relaxing.

A/N: Yes this is pure, unequivocal fluff but I couldn't help it. The bunny for this was given to me by Reefgirl and I've never turn a bunny away before and wasn't going to start with this one. This story is completely independent of 'Not Your Normal Teaching Job' (where Max made her debut). Standard disclaimer for all chapters: Don't own SGA, Crysta (Nenya), Lydia (BiteMeTechie), or anything other than the character Max. Review please.


	2. Strike One

A/N: see ch.1 for disclaimer with the addition that Alex belongs to Reefgirl. Review.

Evan saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he turned towards the entrance to the lounge hoping that it was Max.

It wasn't.

He looked at his watch, which told him it had been exactly five seconds since he last checked, and sighed. The movie was about to start and Max had yet to show up.

The thought that she was going to stand him up had crossed his mind more than once, and each time he firmly squished it. Max had sounded like she was looking forwards to the date and he knew that she wasn't the kind of person that would leave someone hanging without a perfectly good reason.

Yes, he considered this a date since he had done the asking and they were going to be watching a movie together. He had even managed to get some popcorn and Red Vines from Alex and Cadman, knowing that Max loved both.

"Hey," Lydia Winter shouted from against the large sofa in front of the TV. "Everyone shut up!"

The conversations around the room slowed to a halt; Lydia was the kind of person you listened to if you didn't want to. "We're starting the movie now." She said as someone pressed 'play' on the remote and dimmed the lights as the 'Warner Bros.' logo showed up in black and white and the creepy horror music started to play.

Evan shifted ever so slightly so he could see both the TV screen and the entrance to the lounge. "_Maybe she's just running a bit late_." He thought, trying to convince himself.

-----

The credits started to roll, the lights went up, and everyone started leaving. Evan stayed where he was and let people clear in front of him. The movie had been good, but he hadn't paid to much attention to it; he had been keeping a look out for Max hoping that she'd show up. But she hadn't and now he was thinking that something had come up and she hadn't been able to contact him.

Getting up Evan made his way to the Control Tower and over to the control panel where Chuck was sitting in his customary seat.

"Something I can help you with Major?" Chuck asked, looking at Evan.

"Can you tell me if Ma-, uh, Miss Wainwright was here anytime during the evening?" Evan asked, trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing.

Chuck shook his head and replied, "Sorry Major, it's been pretty quiet all evening. Anything else?"

"No, thanks though." Evan said while trying to think of what else could have happened to not make her show up.

-----

Max opened her eyes and sat up, shivering. She rubbed her stiff neck and wondered why she was freezing. Then she realized that she was still in the tub, the bubbles having long since disappeared. Cautiously getting out, she grabbed the towel next to the tub and wrapped herself in it.

After draining the water she walked into the bedroom and looked at the clock, wondering how much time had passed. Glancing at it, she saw that it was at least two hours since the last time she looked. Max stood there for a few seconds until her still-sleeping brain registered the fact she was late for the movie.

"_This is **not** happening_." Max thought as she bolted into action. Flinging some clothes on, she rushed out of her room and down the hallway to a transporter. Entering it, she pressed the area where the lounge was and hoped that the movie was still playing.

Max then dashed out of the transporter and ran down the hallway towards the lounge. Slowing down as she entered, she was greeted to an empty space with bits and pieces of popcorn lying sporadically on the floor. Sighing in defeat, she walked back into her room and went back to bed; falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	3. Sorry

A/N: disclaimers same as chapter 1. Review.

The next morning Evan walked into the cafeteria and scanned the room, looking to see if Max was there; but he couldn't find her. Sighing, he made his way further into the room and picked up a mug of coffee and snagged a bagel. Sitting down, he hoped that Max showed up soon.

A few minutes after Evan sat down Max came walking in with Lydia and Crysta. They each grabbed a cup of coffee or tea (Max was the only one who got tea) and sat down together.

"You stood him up?" Crysta asked, eyes wide.

"Speak of the devil…" Lydia commented as she spotted Evan getting up and walking towards them.

"Great." Max said, feeling her face start to heat up.

"Ladies." Evan said walking up to them.

"Major." Lydia and Crysta said while Max just stared intently at her cup.

"How's it going?"

"Not bad. Enjoy the movie last night?" Lydia asked.

Evan shrugged and replied, "It was alright, I have to admit that I didn't pay that much attention."

Lydia and Crysta shared a glance while Max wished that the floor would swallow her.

"I think that that's our cue to leave." Crysta said, standing.

"See you later Max." Lydia said as she stood as well.

"Bye." Max said softly as they walked away. "So..." she trailed off.

"About last night." Evan finished.

"I'm sorry; I was soaking and fell asleep."

"Really?" Evan asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Max nodded, "I guess I was more tired than I thought."

Evan slowly nodded his head. He could understand the feeling; there had been times where he had been so tired that he had fallen asleep before he had even gotten in bed.

"I'm really really sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Max asked.

Evan thought for a bit and smiled as an idea came to him.

"You're smiling, should I be worried?"

"No. You can make it up to me by going with me to next week's movie."

"Anything else?"

Leaning towards Max, Evan smiled and said, "Just drink lots of coffee beforehand." He then stood and, still smiling, strolled into the hallway.

Max smiled and watched him leave. Finishing the rest of her tea, Max got up and, after a quick stop to pick up her bag, headed towards the Jumper bay to start another school day.


	4. Take Two

A/N: See chapter one for all disclaimers. R&R.

"Nervous?"

Max looked up from her reading to see Alex in front of her. Raising an eyebrow she asked, "Should I?"

Alex shrugged her shoulders while sitting down, "I would be on my first date with someone who looked like the Major."

"It's not a date." Max protested.

Alex raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh really? Then why did he tell me that it was one?"

Max rolled her eyes, "Please, it's not. It's just two friends going to see a movie together."

Alex just looked at Max like she wasn't convinced. "It _is_." Max emphasized.

"If you say so." Alex replied, her tone saying otherwise.

"I do." Max said as she gathered up all of her stuff and stood. "I'll see you later." She called out as she walked into the hallway. After dropping her books and papers off in her room, she then headed for the lounge. Spotting Evan right away, she smiled and made her way towards him.

Sitting down next to him, she said, "Am I in time?"

Evan turned to face Max and smiled, "You're early."

"Good, I didn't want to miss any of the pre-movie high-jinks. You know; flying candy, singing, the usual."

Evan chuckled and asked, "Popcorn?"

"Sure why not?" Max said, taking a handful and popping some into her mouth. "Mmm, that's good."

"Glad you like it. I had to bribe Alex with five bars of Hershey's just to get it." Evan said, taking a sip from his soda can. "But it was worth it."

"Defiantly worth it." Max said through a mouthful of popcorn.

Evan opened his mouth to ask Max if she wanted a soda when his earpiece chirped. Tapping it, he said, "Lorne."

"_Major, I need you and your team in the Gate room ASAP._" Evan heard Colonel Sheppard say.

"Yes sir. Can I ask why?"

"_Fifteen has gotten themselves into a little trouble and need some backup._"

Evan inwardly sighed. Who knew how long a Rescue mission could take? "I'm on my way sir." He said standing.

"_See you in the Gate room. Sheppard out._"

"What's going on?" Max asked.

"I need to go off-world." Evan replied, ruefully smiling. "I'll try to get back as soon as I can. Just make sure you save my seat."

"Will do." Max said, giving Evan a mock salute. She watched Evan exit the room, disappear around the corner, and sighed.

The lights dimmed and the movie started to play so Max settled down and tried to focus on the opening credits. But she failed miserably; instead she wondered if he really _did_ have to go off-world or if he suddenly changed his mind about the whole date thing. Max assumed that if he came back then the "I-have-to-work" excuse was valid and if he didn't...well she got free popcorn.


	5. Not My Fault

A/N: standard disclaimers apply. R&R.

"Fuck." Evan cursed as he slid through the mud. He had just spent the last three hours trying to negotiate the release of fifteen. It had worked, but it had started to rain the moment he had arrived and hadn't stopped so everything was just a sea of mud.

And now, on the way back to the Gate, he lost his footing and slipped down into the mud. So now he was tired, frustrated, and covered in mud.

This wasn't what he had in mind when he asked Max on a date.

Getting back up, he trudged to the Gate and stepped through. After reporting to Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard Evan stopped off at his quarters to change. It took around a half-hour to get all the mud off of his skin but he didn't want to look like the Mud Creature. Putting on some fresh BDUs, he felt infinitely better than when he came back.

Walking out of his room, Evan made his way to the lounge and arrived just in time to see everyone leaving. "_Great._" He thought. Sighing, he made his way through the crowd and walked into the lounge. Scanning the room, he saw that the spot where he had left Max was empty.

"She left awhile ago." Evan heard someone say behind him.

Turning around he saw that it was Crysta. "Where'd she go?" he asked her.

Crysta shrugged. "Why should I tell you? You disappear and she looked pretty upset when she left." Crysta folded her arms, raised an eyebrow, and glared at Evan. "What'd you do?"

"_I_ didn't do anything." Evan said, defending himself. He hated dealing with friends of someone he was dating; he always got the feeling that he was being interrogated by the father before a first date. Plus, if he actually knew the friends and things didn't work out; things got ugly fast. "I was just doing my _job_; it's not my fault that it took the entire length of the movie."

"Oh." Crysta said, looking sheepish. "Sorry."

"Whatever. Which way did she go?"

"Well, Lydia did tell me that she was taking Max to check out the stars."

"Thanks." Evan said, heading towards the door. He then made his way to the observatory, hoping that's where he would find Max.

Entering, he spotted a door ajar. Smiling, he made his way up the steps and as he got closer he could hear voices and giggling.

"…didn't think he would do something like that."

"Who do you think talked him into doing it?"

"_You?_"

"Yup. I just didn't think he would do it at my graduation. It was freezing that day."

"Did anything get frostbitten?"

Evan poked his head out and saw Max and Lydia sitting by the railing with their legs over the edge. As he stepped all the way outside, he cleared his throat. They both fell silent and looked at him. Nervously smiling he said to Max, "Can I talk to you?"

"Depends on what you have to say." Lydia replied, shooting daggers at Evan.

"Lydia!"

Lydia stood and said, "I'll talk to you later Max." She then walked past Evan, giving him a look and then it was just the two of them. Suddenly feeling self-conscious Evan asked, "All right if I sit down?"

"Sure."

Evan walked over to where Lydia had been sitting and sat down, swinging his legs over the edge. "Sorry about missing the movie, it took longer than I thought."

Max shrugged, "I'm over it." She looked at Evan and said, "We even now?"

"How so?"

"Well, I ditched you the first time and then you ditched me this time so I figure that we're even now."

Evan smiled at the thought, "Yea, I guess we are. You up for another try?"

"Sure."

"Great, how does tomorrow sound?"

"What do you mean? There's not another movie until next Friday."

"So? We can have our own little movie night."

Max laughed, "You'll bring the popcorn?"

Evan grinned, "Sure. You can supply the movie, how does that sound?"

"Sounds like a date to me, what do you think?"

"It's a date." Evan said smiling. He then realized that, somehow, during the conversation he had put an arm around her shoulders, with her nestled against him. It all just felt so right to him and Evan wondered why he hadn't done it sooner.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Max sighed and stood. "Leaving already?" he asked, not wanting her to leave.

"Yea, it's getting late and all that caffeine I drank earlier is wearing off so I'm going to head back to my place. I'll see you later?"

"Yea, later." Evan said as Max walked towards the door.


	6. Sod's law 3 Max and Evan 0

A/N: Cookies to Reefgirl for giving me the bunny for the chapter title. Standard disclaimers apply. Review.

As she entered the lounge Max couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

They were finally going to have "the date".

Until now she and Evan had just been friends. Who know what this "date" could do to their friendship? There was that underlying fear that if the date didn't go well then things would be awkward between them or they wouldn't be friends any more.

So yea, no pressure.

"This seat taken?"

Max looked up to see Evan standing with popcorn, soda and a smile. "Nope."

"Good, so what movie are we watching?" Evan asked, sitting down and handing Max the popcorn and a soda.

" 'Swarmed'. I felt like a campy-B sci-fi movie."

"Haven't seen that one. What's it about?"

"Killer bees."

"Sounds fun."

"Oh it is." Max replied as she pressed 'play' on the remote and shifting so that she was closer to Evan.

-----

"I don't get it." Evan said, pausing the movie.

"What don't you get?" Max asked, looking at him.

"Why he didn't notice that the "special" bug spray was missing and that the _one_ bee that survived was the one killing everyone?" Evan said, putting his arm around her. "It doesn't make sense."

Max smiled, "It's not _supposed_ to make sense. That's why it's so fun to watch."

Evan just shook his head and took a sip from his soda can. "I still don't get it."

Max took a handful of popcorn and tossed it at Evan, laughing. "You're hopeless."

Evan opened his mouth to reply but at that moment the Lantian alarm went off and he heard Sheppard calling him to the Control Room.

Jumping up, he ran out of the room and down the hallway towards a transporter.

He had no idea what was going on, but as he rounded the corner he caught a glimpse of Max running in the opposite direction so he knew that it wasn't something good.


	7. Taking Matters Into His Own Hands

A/N: Standard disclaimers apply. Review.

To say that Evan was ticked would be an understatement. They had only watched the first twenty minutes of the movie before all hell decided to break loose and both of them off in different directions.

That had been three days ago and Evan had yet to see Max. Sure he'd stopped by her quarters, but she was never there and he kept just missing her everywhere else.

That's why he was finally taking this thing into his own hands; he made it so that he was Max's escort to the mainland. There was no way that she could avoid him in the Jumper for a half-hour.

----

Max walked into Jumper Bay and stopped, surprised. After a few seconds of staring, she made her way towards the Jumper. Smiling she asked, "Where's James?"

"Lieutenant Meriden has been re-assigned. I'm filling in for today." Evan replied, hoping that she wouldn't see through the flimsy excuse.

"Uh-huh." Max said, not entirely convinced. But she decided to leave it at that. Walking up the ramp, she stored her bag in one of the overhead bins and sat down.

Evan followed Max into the Jumper and sat down in the pilot's seat and soon they were on their way to the mainland. They were silent most of the way, each lost with their own thoughts. After what seemed like more than a half-hour they arrived near the Athosian settlement and they both walked out into the sunshine.

As they walked towards the settlement, Max said, "I hope you won't be too bored. There's not really much to do here for you soldier boys while school's in session."

Evan looked at Max and saw that she was smiling. Grinning back, he said, "That's all right, I'm sure that I'll find something to keep me entertained."

"I bet you will." Max said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Once Evan was sure that Max wouldn't need anything from him, he walked back to the Jumper. Entering it, he powered it up and radioed Atlantis. "Doctor McKay, this is Major Lorne. I need some help..."

----

Max put the last of the papers in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Walking out she spotted Evan and walked towards him, saying, "I'm all set if you are."

"Yup." Evan replied in an even tone. The day had turned out to be nice so they took their time walking to the Jumper. Once inside, Evan mentally crossed his fingers hoping that it would work.

Sitting down, Evan started to power up the Jumper. At first everything was normal; lights went on and there was the normal soft humming, but then it just died.

"What's going on?" Max asked, furrowing her brow. She didn't know that much about Jumper technology but knew enough in order to realize whatever had just happened wasn't normal.

"Not sure." Evan replied, even though he knew _exactly_ what was wrong. The way he looked at it if he didn't take matters into his own hands they'd never finish a date. So he had done what any guy in his position would do; he had gotten McKay to help him disable the Jumper and set it up so that everyone would be busy until the next morning. That way they'd have to stay on the mainland overnight and finally have that date.

But he had to make it look so that he had no idea what was going on, that was the tricky part. Getting up and walking back he said, "Let me take a look."

Evan then removed a panel, pretended to fiddle around with the wires, and after a few minutes replaced the panel. Sitting back down, he placed his hands on the controls and said, "Hopefully it'll work now."

But nothing happened.

"What now?" Max asked, slightly suspicious. All this seemed a bit _too_ convenient.

Evan shrugged and said, "Let me try the comm." Pressing a button he said, "Atlantis this is Major Lorne. Jumper Three has gone off-line and we need a ride back."

There was a pause then they heard, "_Major this is Doctor Weir. Everyone's a bit tied up at the moment. You'll have to stay at the settlement until tomorrow._"

"Understood; Lorne out." Evan said. After he finished speaking, Evan shut down the few systems that remained operational and turned to Max saying, "Hope you didn't have any plans tonight."

Max shook her head, "Just grading papers and reading essays. Not thrilling stuff but it needs to be done. What about you?"

"Poker night with my team, but I think they'll live without me this one time." Evan replied, staring out of the window. The sat in silence for a while until Evan stood saying, "I guess we should head back to the settlement and see if they can find room for us."

"Guess so." Max agreed, standing as well. She picked up her bag, she could at least get _some_ grading out of the way, and followed Evan back outside. They walked towards the village in relative silence and as they neared the village, the conversation stopped all together.

Spotting Halling almost right away, Evan walked up to him and said, "Halling."

Halling looked up when he heard his name being called and was surprised to see that it was Major Lorne and Max. "Forget something Miss Wainwright?" he asked pleasantly enough. He wasn't thrilled that the Athosian children were being taught by someone from the Expedition, but he had to admit that she was doing an acceptable job.

Max smiled faintly and replied, "No, the Jumper stopped working and we were wondering if there was somewhere we could stay for the night."

Halling was silent for a moment then said, "I think so, but let me check." He then walked off to see if there were families willing to take Evan and Max in for the night.

Evan watched Halling go off and smiled to himself. So far everything had gone according to plan; he just had to get Max to realize this was a date.

Halling appeared a few minutes later and said, "Jolie and Deagan are off on a hunting trip so you may use their place. It's the first one as you enter the village."

Evan nodded and said, "Thanks."

Halling nodded and then left Evan and Max.

"So now what?" Evan asked casually.

Max shrugged and said while digging through her bag, "I'm going to head back to the school and get some work done. Feel free to ask me out when I get back." Pulling out her iPod and turning it on, she stuck in the headphones, pressed 'play', turned around, and headed for the school building while smiling; she had figured everything out as they were walking towards the village.

"Uh, sure." Evan said to Max's retreating figure, not quite sure what had just happened. Scratching his head in bemusement, he headed off to the Jumper to get the sleeping bags.


	8. All Most There

A/N: Standard disclaimers apply. R&R.

_Hello little boys, little toys __We're the dreams you're believing Crawling up the walls  
Running down your face Razor sharp, razor clean Feel the weapon's sensation  
On your back With loaded guns Now hold onto me pretty baby If you want to fly…_

Max tapped her feet to the beat of the music as she finished entering grades into her grade book. Setting the pen down, she glanced at her watch and saw that it had been a little more than an hour and a half since they had become "stuck" on the mainland. Standing up, she stretched and started to gather up all her stuff.

Slinging her bag onto her shoulders she walked outside and saw that the sun was starting to set. As she walked to where they'd be staying for the night, Max couldn't help but smile at her surroundings. She felt that despite the fact that they were in a different galaxy and were next to Atlantis, the settlement could be any small town in Mid-Western America; something that Max missed terribly.

Sure she was from the suburbs, but she had spent her summers on a ranch in North Dakota so she knew what wide open spaces were like. Max had loved the feeling of the wind whipping around her when she was on the back of her uncle's bike. And it was little things like this that made her homesick for her family and Earth, but then she saw things like the Stargate and the Puddle Jumpers and the feeling was gone.

Reaching the tent, she walking in and stopped; eyebrows rising. There was only one sleeping bag to be found.

"_Ok, this is going to be interesting._" Max thought as she slowly walked in.

"Hey, you're here." Evan said, coming in behind Max. "Just get here?"

Max turned around and bit back a smile. Evan's uniform was covered with dirt and grass stains and he had bits of leaf and twig stuck in his hair. Nodding she said, "I thought that there were at least two sleeping bags in the Jumper."

"Whoever used one of 'em last time didn't put it back." Evan stated.

Max raised an eyebrow, a silent question being asked. She wasn't entirely sure that this wasn't some lame attempt by Evan to get into bed with her. Max wasn't stupid, she knew about Evan's reputation.

"Honestly, they're not there." Evan said.

"Then you won't mind if I take it then, will you?" Max commented, taking off her bag and setting it on the ground.

"Not if I'm in it as well." Evan replied, grinning.

"I highly doubt that." Max said, laughing and playfully hitting Evan. "So," she said looking straight at Evan, "are we finally gonna have that date or what?"

"Well I'd like to have the date, considering I went to all this trouble to get us on the mainland for the night." Evan said, moving in to kiss her but she stopped him, holding up a hand in front of his chest.

"Clean up first, I don't want to kiss a tree from 'The Wizard of Oz'." Max teased.

"Oh c'mon, I'm not that bad." Evan said, moving closer to Max.

Max pushed him away and laughed. "Yes you are. If you went into the woods now you'd blend in perfectly."

"Well that was the idea." Evan quipped, as Max moved towards the door.

Max paused at the threshold and turned back towards Evan. "I'll be waiting." She said, smiling. Max then walked around the corner of the tent and disappeared.

Evan stood still for a few moments, smiling.

They were finally gonna have that date.


	9. At Last

A/N: I thought that since it was Valentine's Day what better than to finally have "the date"? Standard discalimers apply with the addition that Logan Cale belongs to James Cameron. Review, please.

Evan walked out of the tent; face clean and hair leaf and twig free. He then walked over to where the Athosians had set up a number of bonfires. Spotting Max by one of the fires, he made his way towards it and sat down next to her saying, "Am I late?"

Max looked over at Evan and smiled, "You're right on time."

"Good, I'd hate to miss anything." Evan said as he put an arm around Max's shoulders. "So what's on the menu tonight?" he asked.

"Not sure, apparently this is a night where they all pitch in and eat together. Sorta like a pot-luck." Max said, shifting so that she was facing sideways towards Evan and his hand was off her shoulders.

"Well that's good, 'cause I can't cook to save my life."

"Really?"

"Yup. You'd think that since I had three sisters some of mom's cooking lessons would've stuck but they didn't. I can even ruin Spam. What about you?"

"Somewhat, although I have to admit that Logan taught me most of the recipes that I know. He was a great..." Max said, trailing off at the end when she realized who she was talking about. Feeling her face heat up with embarrassment, she apologized. "I'm sorry; I forgot who I was talking about for a second."

"That's ok," Evan said, shrugging his shoulders. "water under the bridge. Can I ask one thing though?"

"Sure."

"What happened? For awhile it looked like you two were getting pretty close."

Max sighed and stared into the fire, suddenly thoughtful. "I dunno," She said after a few minutes of silence. "I guess that there was too much that I didn't know about him, he never talked about his life back in Seattle and there were always those strange mood swings of his. Sometimes it was like I was talking to someone completely different than the Logan that I first had a crush on. I guess that when we broke up it was something we both wanted." she sighed and shrugged, "But like you said it's water under the bridge."

They sat in silence until the rest of the dinner preparations were finished and the Athosians started to all migrate towards a large table. Evan stood and reached out a hand for Max to grab.

"Thanks." Max said, taking it and standing. After filling their plates and grabbing something to drink they sat back down again, this time closer to each other. They then spent the meal talking and learning more about the other.


	10. Epilouge

"So how was it?" Crysta asked Max, sitting down across from the schoolteacher. When Max hesitated, Crysta urged, "C'mon women, spill."

"Yea, tell us all about it." Lydia said as she and Alex sat down as well. "We need details."

"Well," Max said, hesitating.

"Out with it women!" Lydia exclaimed.

Max laughed, "Ok, ok. Don't bite my head off. It was nice; we had dinner together and ended up talking for hours about all kinds of stuff."

"And? What happened after that?" Alex asked, leaning forwards.

"He said good-night and slept in the Jumper."

Lydia, Crysta, and Alex exchanged glances with each other, looking crestfallen.

"What?" Max asked, seeing the looks. Then it dawned on her. "Geeze guys on the first date? Honestly..."

"Actually it's more like your third date, this one you just saw all the way through." Crysta commented.

"Yea and why not?" Alex said, nodding her head in agreement. "I mean the sparks are obviously there and you seem to have a habit of jumping into bed with guys you like."

"Excuse me?" Max said, raising an eyebrow. "That was _one_ time and we were both wasted. But this...this is different."

"How so?"

Max shrugged and said, "I don't know, but it is."

"Moving on; do you think that you two could be seen together on a regular basis?" Lydia asked.

Max was quite for a moment, thinking. As she was pondering the question, she glanced at the door and saw Evan walk in. He paused just inside the cafeteria, his eyes moving slowly across the room, looking for her.

He spotted her and their eyes locked. Evan smiled while waving at her. Max smiled and waved back, "I guess so."

A/N: It took several tries, but I came up with an ending that wasn't overly shippy and didn't make me want to gag. Standard disclaimers apply. Show your love for the story in the form of reviews.


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